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62 in 1999 at then Atlanta-based engineering firm Project Time & Cost. e idea was to solicit contractors to create a network of service providers who could quickly and cost-effectively address insurance carrier claims. e pilot concept launched locally with one main insurer client in 2000, and within a year, it expanded to fill that client's needs across the country. e business rebranded as Alacrity Services in 2002. With insurance carriers so focused on customer service and paying claims quickly, the company promised its namesake—alacrity—in connecting insurers to credentialed contractors and providing warranties and guarantees. Today, Alacrity touts a network of 1,700 credentialed contractors. While competitors might claim larger numbers of available contractors, Alacrity's management team is unfazed by that marketing ploy. After all, the goal of the network has remained the same over the last 18 years: Provide a consistently reliable and efficient end-user experience every single time. Instead of being concerned with the numbers, Alacrity has focused on "right-sizing" their network. is approach allows them to provide contractors with steady work, and the company still has the ability to scale up the contractor network size if needed. Success was founded also on Alacrity's proprietary web-based software AlacNet®, standardizing costing procedures and expediting communications between financial institutions or insurance companies, insured parties, claims adjusters, and contractors. In 2011, the company's success administering and managing property damage casualty insurance claims, and its robust customer service throughout the process by regional field managers (RFMs) and customer service group (CSG) representatives, garnered interest from Fortune 50 company Lowe's. Alacrity, which by this point had moved its main office operations to Eugene, Oregon, was, at the time, a small power player dealing with much larger companies. A partnership with Lowe's had many advantages. With the Lowe's name recognition, Alacrity could enjoy opportunities to expand and to bring new clients to its contractor network participants which they might not get otherwise. e partnership flourished, and, in 2013, Alacrity joined the Lowe's family of companies, which in Q3 2016 reported $2.4 billion in net earnings. Lowe's was drawn by Alacrity's long- standing presence in the restoration service industry and its strong relationships with insurance carriers, said Mike Tummillo, SVP of Pro Sales. "e property-restoration market is a large and relevant segment of the broader home- improvement market, and Alacrity Services provides Lowe's the opportunity to increase our presence in this space by serving contractors and homeowners in times of need." Along the way, the parent company added another touchpoint to the service process by funding the restoration service specialist (RSS) position. e territory-based representative acts as a point of contact for the contractors to access product and materials. e Alacrity-Lowe's relationship works due to their shared values of being service-oriented. Consider Alacrity's work on property preservation for the likes of Wells Fargo. Wells has a network of bank-owned properties around the country, Alacrity has a network of independent professional contractors around the country, and Lowe's has roughly 1,800 retail centers across North America. "When Wells wants to get a property off its REO rolls, Alacrity supplies local contractors to identify the repairs needed and the contractors can buy supplies at a nearby Lowe's at a discount. Alacrity has been able to maintain its point of pride: being a true partner to each of its B2B clients. As Hemmer describes it, "We try to understand their business and make adjustments to our platform to meet their needs, and more on a collaborative/consultative basis than one size fits all." In June 2016, Alacrity opened a new office in Charlotte, North Carolina, to gain an East Coast presence and to be nearer to the Mooresville, North Carolina, Lowe's headquarters. "e past year has felt more like being at a technology company," said Jason Kendall, Director of New Program Development. "We are moving so fast and iterating so quickly and adding new customers and developing new programs," he explained. "It's just a much faster pace." At the same time, he said, employees enjoy the latitude to go and solve problems or meet customer needs. "We can move quickly and get things done and develop an answer in a week as opposed to a month." FINDING NEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES With a long-range plan to realize significant growth in the next three to five years, Alacrity today aims to become a more full-service company. "It hasn't been our history," Kendall said. But customers, competition, and Lowe's are pulling Alacrity in that direction. e drop in foreclosures is another reason to diversify, Hemmer noted. According to RealtyTrac, the first half of 2016 foreclosure filings saw an 11 percent decrease from the first half of 2015 and a 20 percent drop off from the second half of 2015. "It's forced us a little bit to think about how we position our business differently as the B2B relationships that we have may not be turning out the number of jobs that they would in years past," Hemmer said. So while retaining a reliable contractor network remains crucial to the core business, Alacrity must also size up trends in pricing and fee structures and incentivizing contractors, and it must determine what technologies have the possibility to improve or disrupt the company's model—all this while identifying promising markets where Alacrity's contractor network model will work well. Considering market size, understanding of the competitive landscape, and opportunities to drive additional revenue Continued on page 64 After all, according to company CEO Jonathan Miko, "There is a low apparent bar to admission into this industry. Everybody thinks they can build a contractor network, and they are popping up all of the time. Very few of them actually succeed, but we need to be able to deal with the reasons these new networks pop up. What is it they think they can leverage to be successful? And is it real or is it a mirage?"

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